At present, many retail establishments utilize fixed price checking stations that are distributed through the establishment. The price checker stations are typically situated in fixed locations throughout the establishment, and are connected to a central computer or server that can provide information to a user of the stations. For example, a price checking station in a retail store can allow a customer to scan the barcode of an item to determine information about the item, including its cost. In addition, customers can check inventory, check the balance on a gift card, lookup a loyalty point balance, determine the location of a product call for assistance, print out recipes, gift registries and coupons for in-store specials as well as personalized coupons based on a scan of the customer's loyalty card.
Some price checking stations have a sophisticated communication processor with the ability to be connected to a central computer or server using wired (Ethernet) or wireless local area network (WLAN) or wireless wide area network (WWAN) connectivity. In particular, some price checking stations are operable in a Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11a/b/g) communication network. However, an issue with these sophisticated price checker stations is that they are typically idle most of the time, which wastes their processing and communication capabilities.
Accordingly, there is a need to improve the utilization of price checking stations without incurring additional hardware costs.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.
The apparatus and method components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.